Franck; Grieg; Janáček: Violin Sonatas – review

As presented by Vadim Repin and Nikolai Lugansky, Janáček's Violin Sonata becomes unambiguously a late-romantic work, almost overfilled with emotion, and milked for every bit of its expressive juice in their performance. The playing and the sense of ensemble are both magnificent, but its in-your-face vividness is a bit much for my taste, with everything coming across in a breathless rush when something a bit more measured and objective might register more effectively. In the first movement of the César Franck Sonata at least Repin and Lugansky do show that they can keep something in reserve – their playing has much more refinement and a sense of light and shade, though they can't resist the climaxes of both the slow movement and the finale, which get the high-voltage, heart-on-sleeve treatment. It's the same story in Grieg's second sonata, with passages of great lyrical sensitivity alternating with playing that loads the music with so much emotional weight, it threatens to collapse under it.